


Attonement

by Quicksilvermaid



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Drabble, Headcanon, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Post War Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 16:53:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15912393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quicksilvermaid/pseuds/Quicksilvermaid
Summary: What if the Room of Requirement still houses the fiendfyre that Crabbe ignited all those months ago?





	Attonement

**Author's Note:**

> This is more of a drabble than a fic. I'm keeping a bunch of placeholder stories here to expand on later, so I don't lose them on tumblr.
> 
> Jump over and say hi and hound me to write more if you like haha: [@quicksilvermaid](http://quicksilvermaid.tumblr.com)

What if the students can feel the heat of it through the walls? 

What if Harry's lying awake one night, watching the Maurauder's Map - because sometimes, if he looks at it for long enough, he can close his eyes and finally sleep - and he sees the black dot saying _Draco Malfoy_ pacing in front of the room … and then he sees it disappear.

And Harry's never moved so fast in his damn life. He knows exactly what Malfoy is doing. He knows exactly how it feels to have a giant hole in your chest where a friend used to be … and to feel like you're the reason they’re not here any more … 

He sprints to the Room, pacing in front of it, asking for what it needs with more desperation than he's felt in a long time. He can't let someone else die. He _won't_. What Malfoy is trying to do is madness.

He sees the other boy immediately, just inside the doorway. His face is set and his jaw is clenched as he points his wand at the roiling flames in front of himself. The words ' _Nolite Ignis_ ' issue from his mouth in a rolling cycle, and Harry recognises the counter to fiendfyre that Hermione made them learn. He looks around, quickly assessing. The spell is dampening the flames nearest to them, but across the echoing cavern that used to be the Room of Hidden Things, he can see creatures starting to turn - to notice them. He can see flame red eyes and devouring hunger pointed their way.

He takes two swift steps forward and Malfoy notices him at last, eyes widening before he scowls.  
'Get out of here, Potter,' Malfoy says, voice angry.  
'No - Malfoy, what you're doing is madness. It can't work. We have to leave. Now!'

Malfoy shakes his head, shooting off the incantation again and again, beating the flames back. 'You don’t understand,' he says. 'He's still here … I can hear - I can't leave him like this.'

Harry reaches out a little desperately now. He can see the creatures, great bodies of flame and death, circling towards them. He grabs Malfoy's arm and pulls. Malfoy shakes him off with a glare. 'You go, Potter. This needs to be finished.'

'I'm not leaving you behind,' Harry says stubbornly, reaching out again. Malfoy shoves him hard, and steps forward into the flames. They retreat around him at the power of his spell and Harry reaches again, before he realises it's too late. They're coming. The roaring, crackling wall of living fire is cresting. He can see serpents, chimaeras, a phoenix and dragons bearing down on Malfoy. Any one of them will be his death.

Harry can't have it. He won't. There's been too much death.

He raises his wand and reaches deep inside himself. He reaches for the power that he felt beyond the veil - the power that is life and death in itself and he shouts as he stabs his wand forward, ' _NOLITE IGNIS_ '. The power floods from him like a wave, a tsunami. Nothing can stand in its path. The creatures are blown out in a shockwave of his command. It blasts through the room in an instant, leaving it bare but for wisps of smoke curling into the air.

Harry lowers his wand slowly and turns to Malfoy, expecting to see shock … or fear. He'd let the Ministry officials see a fraction of this power he could now call on, and they'd looked at him as though they'd like to lock him away, but weren't sure they'd be successful.

Instead what he gets from Malfoy is a glare and a slightly sullen mutter of, 'I could have done it by myself.' 

Harry fights to hide a smile at how relieved he is Malfoy hasn’t run screaming - he knows the other boy would take it the wrong way. Instead, he shrugs and says, 'I guess we'll never know.'  
Malfoy huffs and rolls his eyes, 'One day, I'll save your life Potter,' he says, 'Then we'll be even.'

Harry thinks about Malfoy Manor. He thinks about Narcissa's lies. He thinks about the last few months and how he'd felt so numb and empty … and about how he feels now, standing opposite a soot streaked Draco Malfoy in an empty room in the middle of the night.  
'You already have,' he says with a smile.


End file.
